Safflower
Fidens Brewing Company

Copenhagen 9/4 2026. 47,3 cl can from Best of Beers web-shop. Drawing of a Safflower on the white can.

Pours opaque hazy, golde yellow with a mid-sized white head. Stable. Settles as a thin, almost transparent layer of foam stretching to cover the surface of the beer. Crawling up the sides of the glass. Substantial lacing.

Aroma is fairly intense with a fermented and sweet odor of overripe fruit mingling with sharp citrus fruit. Mango and passion fruit. Whiff of fruity decay. Citrus and grapefruit. Alcohol.

Light carbonation. Medium thick, soft, smooth, a little viscous, gently tingling texture.

Flavor is intense with a rather strong sweetness followed by an event stronger bitterness. Aftertaste is bitter with a sweet undertone. Lingering. Finish is quite dry.

Exquisite and imperial.

Nose is juicy, sticky mango. Taste is super tropical mango, melon, orange rind, resin, and dole whip. Soft, plush mouthfeel. Resinous lingering finish.

2 months old. Can to wine glass.

Look: Pours a hazy yellow with a fluffy, quite stable white head that leaves a good amount of lacing. No floaters.

Smell: Ripe citrus fruits. Sweet and hoppy.

Taste: Orange and grapefruit. Notes of mango. Sweet, slightly zesty and a dry and bitter finish.

Feel: Full and juicy. Medium carbonation. Minimal hop burn.

Overall: Nicely balanced DIPA with a full body and some interesting edges. The taste notes are rather classical, but, as always with Fidens, everything’s perfectly executed. Great beer!

 

Canned on 2/14/22; consumed on 2/28/22

Pours an opaque, glossy, sunflower-gold body topped with multiple fingers of dense, fluffy, white foam; good head retention leaves a thin layer of cap, a massive, frothy collar climbing the walls of the glass to meet wispy veils of wavy, chunky lacing.

Aroma brings tangerine zest and mango into a musty, cracked peppercorn dank with underlying and lush tropical yeast tones; musty lime clings to touches of jackfruit over the middle as mossy resins build to a brighter zest on the close.

Taste finds musty lemon cut with fermenting honey into orange peel and subtle floral undertones, with a mid-palate highlighting slick resins and a slightly boggy undercurrent, while bright, ripe papaya sweetens zesty tangerine on the finish.

Mouthfeel brings a body on the fuller end of medium with moderate, fluffy carbonation and a creamy, subtle grit with a light prickle into the mid-palate; a pillowy hop twang eases to a semi-juicy finish with minimal bitterness.

Expressive yeast builds a resinous spark through boggy dankness to exceedingly bright underplay, a unique and comprehensive texture at the intersection of earthy and sweet while maintaining the lush, effortless character of peak Fidens NEIPAs with a more experimentally-minded, offbeat twist.